Spy vs Spy
Posted May 22, 2005
Yes, this is the Spy vs. Spy from MAD magazine; The classic black spy versus white spy in a never ending struggle to punch each other in the face with a spring loaded boxing gloves, or set the ever popular anvil on the door and watch as hilarity ensues when it falls on the other guy's noggin. Well, not really.
Gameplay:
There are a few modes that are available for playing this update to the more than decade old release on the 8-bit machines of old, and even an online portion which is the only saving grace for the budget title.
Story mode places you as either the white or the black spy in a single player only campaign to try and sneak and booby trap your way through different levels ranging from a carnival to a mansion, whoo-hooo. Each level in this mode initially places you in your Spy safe house, where you can spend hard earned cash on new gadgets and booby traps, and also get free healing in case you’ve been pegged with a slingshot one too many times. The levels feature a handy arrow which tells you which way to go, but more often then not the arrow is completely useless so you’ll need to explore the levels on your own, adding much frustration to the single player mode. As you advance through a level, you’ll eventually come to a point where you’ll need to do something specific which involves a gadget that conveniently is held in your hideout, so you’ll have to backtrack many times to complete a level, a fantastic way to make a game longer and more fun to play. If you are getting this game for the single player mode, then I recommend that you take your case elsewhere and buy something different.
In Classic mode; which mimics the game play style of the 8-bit home console games, you choose which color spy you wish to play as. Then you and other spies are placed in an Embassy and your goal is to collect the secret items (psssst, check the safe) and then escape the scene via helicopter. Modern Mode is a new take on the classic mode with more weapons and booby traps like lightening guns, suicidal monkeys and electrified doorknobs.
Popping onto Xbox Live is one of the only real good reasons to get this game, but even then the games can be overrun with young kids who act up when Mom and Dad are out on the town, as with most online games, be prepared to deal with a lot of crap before finding a game that might be fun. But even online, the fun can be quite limited as games rarely rely on using the traps and trap-counter items that you can use, and it becomes a less than pretty version of Halo with the long snout sporting spies strafing and circling one another with the machine guns.
Graphics:
While the graphics are really nothing worth raving over, they fit the subject of the game perfectly. The spies sport their bland yet identifying uniforms, but as you advance through story mode you unlock items in the Mod-A-Spy mode which lets you outfit your spy with new clothing and such to customize the game a little further.
The look of the levels was somewhat cartoonish and a little bland, far from the realistic games that we’re coming to expect this late into a console lifespan. The draw distance was never really tested, as a lot of the time the area in which you looked was small and the system was able to draw things in at a good pace.
Audio:
Ugh, the sound. Well, you’ll be happy to know that the spies keep their vocal talents to essentially to the snickering that we’ve all seen if you’ve caught a cartoon segment on MAD TV, if not be ready to hear it a lot. When it does come time that there is some actual voice work, the game resorts to some garbled gibberish, which I found quite annoying especially when technology is advanced as it is.
Conclusion:
Spy vs. Spy is a throwback to the classic side scrolling game that I remember playing for hours, yet this version doesn’t quite capture the magic that the 8-Bit version had. Perhaps it’s that the original was one of the first games to utilize a split screen multi-player which made it so much fun playing with friends, but I found this iteration was boring and even when playing with multiple people lacked the fun aspect that I look for in multiplayer games.
Do I recommend this game to you? No, I don’t recommend you rush out and spend the money on the title, but renting it might be a great option to let you see if it’s something that you might want to spend time with. As an adult gamer, I didn’t enjoy it, but based on the age of people I played with online, the younger set might enjoy it. Skip It.
Gameplay:
There are a few modes that are available for playing this update to the more than decade old release on the 8-bit machines of old, and even an online portion which is the only saving grace for the budget title.
Story mode places you as either the white or the black spy in a single player only campaign to try and sneak and booby trap your way through different levels ranging from a carnival to a mansion, whoo-hooo. Each level in this mode initially places you in your Spy safe house, where you can spend hard earned cash on new gadgets and booby traps, and also get free healing in case you’ve been pegged with a slingshot one too many times. The levels feature a handy arrow which tells you which way to go, but more often then not the arrow is completely useless so you’ll need to explore the levels on your own, adding much frustration to the single player mode. As you advance through a level, you’ll eventually come to a point where you’ll need to do something specific which involves a gadget that conveniently is held in your hideout, so you’ll have to backtrack many times to complete a level, a fantastic way to make a game longer and more fun to play. If you are getting this game for the single player mode, then I recommend that you take your case elsewhere and buy something different.
In Classic mode; which mimics the game play style of the 8-bit home console games, you choose which color spy you wish to play as. Then you and other spies are placed in an Embassy and your goal is to collect the secret items (psssst, check the safe) and then escape the scene via helicopter. Modern Mode is a new take on the classic mode with more weapons and booby traps like lightening guns, suicidal monkeys and electrified doorknobs.
Popping onto Xbox Live is one of the only real good reasons to get this game, but even then the games can be overrun with young kids who act up when Mom and Dad are out on the town, as with most online games, be prepared to deal with a lot of crap before finding a game that might be fun. But even online, the fun can be quite limited as games rarely rely on using the traps and trap-counter items that you can use, and it becomes a less than pretty version of Halo with the long snout sporting spies strafing and circling one another with the machine guns.
Graphics:
While the graphics are really nothing worth raving over, they fit the subject of the game perfectly. The spies sport their bland yet identifying uniforms, but as you advance through story mode you unlock items in the Mod-A-Spy mode which lets you outfit your spy with new clothing and such to customize the game a little further.
The look of the levels was somewhat cartoonish and a little bland, far from the realistic games that we’re coming to expect this late into a console lifespan. The draw distance was never really tested, as a lot of the time the area in which you looked was small and the system was able to draw things in at a good pace.
Audio:
Ugh, the sound. Well, you’ll be happy to know that the spies keep their vocal talents to essentially to the snickering that we’ve all seen if you’ve caught a cartoon segment on MAD TV, if not be ready to hear it a lot. When it does come time that there is some actual voice work, the game resorts to some garbled gibberish, which I found quite annoying especially when technology is advanced as it is.
Conclusion:
Spy vs. Spy is a throwback to the classic side scrolling game that I remember playing for hours, yet this version doesn’t quite capture the magic that the 8-Bit version had. Perhaps it’s that the original was one of the first games to utilize a split screen multi-player which made it so much fun playing with friends, but I found this iteration was boring and even when playing with multiple people lacked the fun aspect that I look for in multiplayer games.
Do I recommend this game to you? No, I don’t recommend you rush out and spend the money on the title, but renting it might be a great option to let you see if it’s something that you might want to spend time with. As an adult gamer, I didn’t enjoy it, but based on the age of people I played with online, the younger set might enjoy it. Skip It.